ERIC Number: EJ1427666
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0013-1857
EISSN: EISSN-1469-5812
Available Date: N/A
Teachers Taking Spiritual Turns: A Practice-Centred Approach to Educators and Spirituality via Michel Foucault
Educational Philosophy and Theory, v56 n6 p537-546 2024
In the face of challenging circumstances, many teachers turn to spirituality for sustenance and strength. Yet spirituality's place in education and in educators' lives has long been a matter of confusion and contention, not least because of the ambiguity of the term in its common usage. What is its relationship to religion? And what defines it? In this article, I submit that the later work of Michel Foucault offers a helpful approach to spirituality that displaces those questions--drawing attention away from beliefs and/or attitudes professed, and towards the process of practical self-transformation that subjects undertake for the sake of a truth that is actualised in the body. To be spiritual in this sense is more a matter of what one does than what one believes or who one is. To offer a sense of why it matters in the lives of educators, I draw on the experiences of a San Diego high school teacher confronting interlocking personal, professional, and political challenges as a detailed example.
Descriptors: Spiritual Development, Political Attitudes, Barriers, High School Teachers, Educational Philosophy, Teacher Attitudes, Ethics, Professional Identity, Metacognition, COVID-19, Pandemics, Transformative Learning
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: High Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: California (San Diego)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A